There’s no one at Stonemaier Games who travels as much as Alex Schmidt, our COO. Alex frequently flies to conventions and visit with distributors, meeting our partners face-to-face and learning how we can work together better.

Given Alex’s extensive business travel experience, I asked him if he might be willing to share some tips that might benefit other creators. Alex was kind to write the following guest post.

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Hi! I do a decent amount of travelling for my work with Stonemaier, going to various conventions and B2B events to meet with our various distributors and retailers. Here are a few travel tips I’ve learned along the way:

Upgrade (but only if it’s cheap)

This really only applies to international flights. For domestic flights I never pay for upgrades, though with loyalty rewards (see below) it’s pretty common to get free upgrades. That said, it’s always worth looking at upgrading your seats for international flights. I don’t recommend taking expensive upgrades, but when you’re travelling for work, your time is not only valuable to you but to your company. If you can arrive more rested, then you’re a more valuable employee for your company as well as personally having a better experience.

Fly at reasonable times

This one seems obvious to me but I’m always surprised just how often I hear about people taking early morning or overnight redeye flights. Sometimes it’s unavoidable (like travelling internationally), but I find that I’m a much happier traveller when I’m not getting up at 3AM to get to the airport at 4:30AM for a 6AM flight. Unless you absolutely have to, be kind to yourself and take a flight at a more reasonable hour.

Take the bus or train instead of a layover (in Europe)

In my personal experience, this suggestion only really applies in Europe where distances between locations tend to be shorter and public transportation tends to be better. Sometimes you’re travelling somewhere where there’s not a good airport with a lot of direct flights. For example, frequently the flight route from the US to Birmingham is to fly to Amsterdam to catch a layover back to Birmingham. Post Brexit this also means you’re dealing with EU and UK customs.

My preferred alternative has been to fly to London directly from the US and then catch a bus to Birmingham. The train is possible too, but the bus station is right in the Heathrow airport. The result? I get to Birmingham just as fast if not faster, it’s cheaper with a bus instead of the layover, and the last part of the trip is more relaxed without the need to go through customs a second time.

Stick to one hotel chain and one airline when you can manage it

There are books worth of content on maximizing travel and credit card points. I’m not going to attempt to expound too much, but if you’re travelling a lot and when you can stick to one airline and/or one hotel chain, you get perks and those perks do add up. Upgrades on flights and rooms are fairly common. So are things like free breakfast. So, when you’re travelling for work, it benefits your company as well as you.

Plus, even when you’re travelling for work, you do get points for airlines and hotel chains which you can turn into free personal flights or hotel rooms when they add up. If you split things up more, you’re going to get fewer points and fewer perks. Plus the points you do have will be spread out in ways that make it difficult to actually use them.

Add days to explore

Your company sent you to a distant location for work. That’s great! But you just spent the entire time working there. Maybe you had some different meals. But, you’re already there. It doesn’t cost your company anything to have your arrival flight come in a few days early or your return flight a few days late. You’re already there. Take advantage of where you are to take a cheaper vacation and explore a different part of the world.

Plus, if you’re going to the same location year-after-year, well that’s a chance to explore more nearby places and get even more familiar with it. Maybe even ask your company if they’d be willing to fly you in to a different nearby location and then you can get yourself from there to your destination at the end of your vacation. Italy’s a lot cheaper to get to the UK from than the US is.

A few purchases to consider

Comfortable shoes go a long ways, but that’s as much about walking around at a convention or sightseeing as it is actual travel. A battery pack as a backup to charge your phone/kindle/earbuds/etc is always a good idea. Travelling is what got me to finally adopt a kindle versus physical books just because it’s smaller and takes up less space for travel.

Relax

This may be more important than all of my other recommendations. Travel is stressful. And you’re generally surrounded by other people who are also stressed out. Figure out what lets you relax when you’re travelling, and lean into it. For me, personally, I’d much rather get to the airport early and let myself read a book while hanging out and waiting for my flight.

I always check my bag. Yes, it might get lost, but if it does I’ll figure that out when it happens. And in the meantime, I’m not trying to manage keeping track of and moving around a roller bag. Yes, I could be more efficient about all of my travel, but I’d much rather have a more restful, relaxing experience while I am travelling. It’s going to take time. But I’d rather it took a bit more time and have the quality of that time be better than being done faster while being more stressed. Relaxing looks different for everyone, though. Just take the time to ask yourself how you can relax best while you’re travelling.

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Thanks so much for these insights, Alex! I’ll open the floor to readers as well: What’s your #1 business travel tip?

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